Home Free

“We’ve sold our house,” I told my sister and her partner. “We will soon be homeless.”

“You mean, you will soon be home free!”

Our house did take a very long time to sell. And I understand why. It is an expensive home and it is in the country. We had at least 40 showings over the past year. We were getting ready to leave for a vacation last week when we received the first offer.

Finally.

After one year on the market, we finally have an offer.

The offer was full of conditions though. Home inspection. Water inspection. Septic tank inspection. Ability to insure the property. And, the one we did not like to see, 90 days to sell their existing house.

We cut that down to 45 days and we had to go through multiple counters to include our exit clause, namely, if we receive another offer, then this buyer would have 48 hours to firm up and remove all conditions.

Well, we never thought that we would have multiple offers on the house. Sure enough, a few days later, while we were on vacation, another family bid on the house. Firm. No conditions.

The original buyers were notified that they had 48 hours to firm up. They elected to firm the deal, remove all their conditions and this rather major change in our lives has now hit home, so to speak.

Our original plan was to head out and travel full-time in the Castaway. However, Canadian RV sites, unlike the United States, are not quite as accommodating to Class A motorhomes especially for those of us wanting to either full-time or most-time in our coaches. We have so many choices in the States that we are really excited to be snowbirding in that country during our retirement years in the Castaway.

Canadian RV parks are, well, not all that nice when compared to some of the beautiful RV resorts we have enjoyed stateside. Our plan is to improvise and buy a small parcel of land and build a nice RV site or perhaps buy a cottage where we can spend our six months in the nice Canadian weather with our coach parked on the property and then head south once the weather turns cold.

The big challenge is where do we go when the house closes at the end of June? Do we buy the property now — it seems too rushed — or do we rent somewhere and give ourselves a bit of time?

I won’t be retiring for another 12 to 18 months so I think it makes sense to rent for a bit.

I have a feeling of panic as I think about all of the work ahead of us to clear our house of stuff and to get ready for this next chapter in our lives.

I’m also a bit worried about finding a place for the next year or so. Very tight rental market in our area.

Exciting and scary.